U of W student president sues for $100K, settles for apology

Kim Orr, president of the University of Windsor Students' Alliance displays two letters of apology after settling a lawsuit that was filed against two senior members of the student government. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Seeking $100,000 for defamation, the president of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance has settled for an apology.

“This will help me in my future,” said Kim Orr, pointing to the written apologies, already framed and perched on her desk in the UWSA offices at the CAW Student Centre.

The defamation of character lawsuit was filed against two members of the student government after they publicly alleged Orr had pocketed money from a splashy welcome-week concert last September that became a money-losing venture. Orr said the UWSA was also named in the lawsuit to protect against anyone else adding to the slander.

The apologies are word-for-word the same. UWSA vice-president of finance Erik Pigeon and board member Sami Habib wrote they were sorry for any statements “that may have caused other people to infer that Kimberley Orr had stolen funds from ticket sales.”

At one point, both Pigeon and Habib championed a motion to impeach Orr amid the unproven allegations. Habib admitted at the time there was no evidence to suggest Orr had taken funds, but said her decision to allow people to enter the festival plaza directly after paying instead of standing in a second line to pick up a ticket made it impossible to verify whether all the money was properly accounted for.

Impeachment proponents failed to dislodge the president at an emergency board meeting.

Orr said the allegations that were made, and the resulting brouhaha reported by The Windsor Star, The Lance student newspaper and by other media, was demeaning and stressful.

“Very scary for me also was the potential toll on my future prospects,” Orr told The Star. Accepted into law school for next fall, she said the original allegations and stories remain accessible on the Internet, and she wanted the retractions and written apologies for future use to defend her reputation.

“Anything on the Internet is there forever – employers do look you up before they hire you,” she said.

The Sept. 5 waterfront concert featured big-name Swedish DJ Avicii and cost the students’ alliance $30,000 above the $210,000 in revenue it made. A statement of claim, filed Nov. 26, indicates Orr remitted all funds collected by herself and volunteers to Pigeon and UWSA accounting staff, according to The Lance.

Habib gives little impression of being sincerely apologetic.

His letter, he told The Star, “was made basically to make this case go away…. At the end of the day, I said settle, it’s in the best interest of students.”

Habib said settling was “the lesser of two evils.” Asked whether the letter of apology is an expression of him having done wrong, he replied: “I have my own beliefs … on whether she did it or didn’t.”

Pigeon could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Habib said he never stated specifically that “she personally stole funds.”

Orr concedes that point. “What they said was there was no evidence that I didn’t steal,” she said. Pursuing her ouster, however, “inferred that I had stolen,” she added.

“When you send an apology, you admit guilt,” said Orr. She said the framed apologies propped up on her desk “are a good reminder for me.”

Orr was seeking $50,000 in general and special damages, an additional $50,000 in punitive damages, and court costs totaling $750. The settlement included Orr’s legal fees being covered by the OWSA.

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